Santiago Gimenez's Journey at AC Milan: A Season of Struggles

Santiago Gimenez arrived at San Siro as if shot out of a cannon.

Fresh from Feyenoord, where he scored 65 times in 105 games and broke the 20-goal barrier in each of his two full seasons at De Kuip, the Mexican striker looked built for the big stage. Premier League clubs circled. Europe’s elite made their calls. He turned them away and chose Milan, the club he had followed as a boy, the shirt he had dreamed of wearing.

On paper, it felt like a perfect fit. On the pitch, it never quite caught fire.

Gimenez managed six goals after his February 2025 move, flashes of the penalty-box predator who had terrorised defences in the Netherlands. Yet the rhythm never settled. The runs were there, the effort too, but the timing and confidence that defined his Feyenoord spell seemed to lag half a beat behind.

At first, it looked like the usual adaptation pains. New league, new language, new expectations. A player stepping out of his comfort zone is allowed a few missteps.

Then came the injuries.

His first full season in Italy turned into a stop-start grind. Five months wiped out, momentum shattered. A burly centre-forward who thrives on repetition and rhythm instead found himself watching, waiting, rehabbing. By the end of the campaign, his tally stood at just one goal in the Coppa Italia. For a striker of his profile, that number told its own story.

It has arrived at an awkward moment for Milan. Another reset is underway. Massimiliano Allegri is on his way out, senior names find their futures under scrutiny, and the club is again trying to redraw its roadmap. In that swirl of uncertainty, Gimenez’s name naturally drifts into the conversation. Stay and fight? Or move again before the San Siro pitch really starts to burn under his feet?

One of Mexico’s greats understands the complexity of the situation.

Jared Borgetti, the country’s second-highest scorer of all time, sees more than a simple case of a striker failing to deliver. Speaking to GOAL on behalf of 10bet, he cut through the noise.

“Unfortunately, the move to Italy hasn't been a good year for Santiago, but it's not solely due to the player or his problems,” Borgetti said. “I think his injury has also played a significant role in preventing him from achieving consistency, competing for a starting position, and reaching the level he showed in the Netherlands.”

The criticism did not stop at the No. 9.

“I believe Milan as a whole hasn't been performing well, and when a team isn't playing well, no player can truly stand out. To say that any player stood out at Milan this season, I think we'd be exaggerating or just saying it for the sake of it, so, I don't think the team helped much either.

“He's a player who needs the team to be playing well, for the system of play to suit his style, so that he can have scoring opportunities and create plenty of chances for the team to capitalise on. I do think the dip in form is partly due to him, partly due to the team, and obviously, the atmosphere also ends up affecting his individual performances.”

It is a blunt but balanced verdict. Gimenez has not hit his level. Milan have not either. The result is a season that feels like a missed connection.

What has not cracked is the player’s belief in where he is and why he came.

He chose Milan with his heart as much as his head, and that emotional bond has not weakened. Speaking to Billboard Italia, he laid bare what it means to walk out at San Siro wearing the colours he once watched from afar.

“I have supported Milan since I was a child, so finding myself playing in that stadium that I could only see on television means a great deal to me,” he said. “The fans welcomed me with so much affection and, despite the fact I have not yet performed as I would have liked, they continue to push me and trust me. Like a family.”

That last line matters. Milan fans can be unforgiving, yet they have not turned on him with the venom others have felt. The patience is not infinite, but it is still there. Gimenez knows it. He also knows he needs a spark.

It might come thousands of kilometres away, in green rather than red and black.

The 2026 World Cup on home soil offers him a stage of rare magnitude. The Azteca will host the opening game, and Mexico, with Gimenez likely at the tip of the attack, will walk into a cauldron against South Africa on Thursday. The noise, the colour, the pressure – it is exactly the kind of environment that can either crush a player or transform his season.

For Gimenez, there is no room for modest ambition.

“When you wear the national team jersey, you represent an entire country, so you have a huge responsibility, but at the same time, it’s a wonderful thing,” he said. “I know that Mexico, with its people, is very strong at home. I’m convinced it will be a great World Cup. Mexico will win, and I’ll be the top scorer!”

It is a bold declaration, the sort that invites headlines and scrutiny in equal measure. Yet it also reveals a striker who refuses to shrink, even after a bruising year in Europe.

Mexico’s Group A path – South Africa at the Azteca, then South Korea and Czechia – gives him a platform. Score early, carry a nation, and the narrative around his name changes in an instant. The same Milan fans who have waited for the Feyenoord version of Gimenez would welcome home a World Cup top scorer with open arms.

His contract at San Siro runs until the summer of 2029. Milan still have time to decide what they want him to be: a short-lived experiment, or a long-term focal point in a new project. A World Cup run that restores his sharpness and swagger would push the club towards the latter.

For now, the equation is simple. Shine for El Tri, ride that wave back to Italy, and turn a stuttering chapter into the prelude of something bigger. The next time Gimenez walks out under the San Siro lights, will he still look like the boyhood fan living his dream – or the striker who just proved on the world’s biggest stage that he belongs at the heart of Milan’s future?